French police re-arrest suspect over 2012 gun massacre of British family in the Alps

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French police have re-arrested a suspect in connection with the 2012 gun massacre of a British family and French cyclist in the Alps after ‘discovering inconsistencies’ in his statement.   

In a dramatic development to what many had considered a cold case, a prosecuting source in Annecy, eastern France, on Wednesday confirmed that ‘a man was placed in custody at 8:05am and is being questioned at length’ in relation to the savage attack in the Alps.

Police are examining ‘inconsistencies in the suspect’s original testimony and checking out his alibi,’ said the source. BFM TV reported the suspect was a married man who had already been interviewed by police as a witness in the case but never detained.

Surrey businessman Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife Iqbal, 47, and his mother-in-law Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were gunned down as they tried to escape the area in their BMW car on September 5, 2012.

French cyclist Sylvain Mollier, 45, also died in the bloodbath, after being shot seven times at point blank range.

The Al-Hillis’ daughter, Zeena, four, hid in the footwell of the vehicle and was unscathed, while her sister, Zainab, seven, was shot and pistol-whipped but recovered. 

Annecy prosecutor Line Bonnet-Mathis said in a statement: ‘A person was taken into custody on January 12, 2022 at 8:05 am by investigators from Chambery in connection with the assassination of the Al-Hilli family and Sylvain Mollier.’

He was said to be ‘living in a couple’ of houses in the Lyon area, and searches of his home and nearby properties were continuing. 

Further details will only be made public once the man’s detention period expires, the prosecutors said. 

Despite an investigation stretching across the world that has involved 100 French gendarmes and nearly 40 UK police officers, those responsible have never been caught, leading to accusations that the French now view the case as unsolvable.  

But Ms Bonnet-Mathis recently confirmed that the enquiry is still very much active.

Referring to the nearest hamlet to the crime scene, she said at the end of last year: ‘The Chevaline case is continuing, and still involves an investigating judge and investigators.’

Ms Bonnet-Mathis said the ‘preservation of physical evidence’ was a priority and that ‘for us, this is not a cold case.’

She confirmed that forensics officers from the research section of the Chambery gendarmerie had returned to the scene. 

Questioned further about the arrest, Ms Bonnet-Mathis said: ‘There have been a lot of arrests in this case, so we mustn’t get carried away.

‘I won’t be saying anymore until the suspect has been heard. We have already had a suicide after a police custody in this case, so must remain cautious and measured about its outcome. 

‘I don’t want to give anything away that identifies this person, or where he comes from’.

In June 2014, Patrice Menegaldo, a former soldier in the French Foreign Legion, took his own life in Ugine, close to Annecy, after being questioned about the case.

He left a suicide note referring to the Alps Murders, following his interrogation by the Chambery detectives.

Police later said his arrest involved a ‘routine hearing of about two hours’, saying that Menegaldo was treated as potential witness to the crime, and not a murder suspect.

During the course of the investigation, at least six individuals have been questioned but none have ever been charged. 

In 2014, French authorities said that a biker long wanted in connection with the murders had been identified but had no link to the killings.

An Iraqi prisoner known as Mr S who was questioned after he claimed he had been offered ‘a large sum of money’ to kill Iraqis living in the UK.

Mr al-Hilli’s brother, Zaid, was also arrested on suspicion of murder in 2013 but was later told he would face no further action after police found there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime.

The brothers, born to middle-class parents in Baghdad before the family moved to Britain in 1971, had enjoyed a close relationship. But they fell out over the family house inherited from their mother, who died in 2003. 

Former local policeman Eric Devouassoux, a trained marksman who hoarded Second World War weapons at his home, was arrested in February 2014 in connection with the tragedy. He was later cleared. 

Meanwhile in November 2015 a motorcyclist linked with the murders was ruled out of the investigation. One lead in tracing the man was that he was wearing an unusual helmet, only a few thousand of which had been made.

But the motorcyclist said he had been on his way home after a paragliding trip, and was ruled out of the enquiry. It was described at the time as a major setback for police who had focused much of their attention on the motorcyclist. 

Earlier in 2021, detectives said they were investigating a possible link between the murders and a bungling gang of contract killers based in Paris.

Pistol rounds found at the home of one member, a former police intelligence officer, were of the same calibre as those fired by the antique Luger PO6 used to kill the Al-Hillis.

Investigators believe that if the gang was involved, it be more likely that Mr Mollier was the primary target.

He was a welder in a subsidiary of the Areva nuclear power group, but tensions in his personal life are more likely to have provided a motive for him being targeted, they said.

Baffled French investigators have considered numerous other potential reasons for the attacks.

These range from Mr Al-Hilli’s past life in Iraq, including potential financial links to the late dictator Saddam Hussein, to claims that a ‘lone wolf’ psychopath was responsible for a random attack.

Police have also theorised convicted killer Nordahl Lelandais was involved in the deaths.

But after a review, authorities said they no longer believe Lelandais, who has already confessed to the killing of a hitchhiking soldier and an eight-year-old schoolgirl, is linked to the killings. 

And in a bizarre twist, Mrs al-Hilli’s previous husband, an American dentist named only as James T, died from a heart attack on the same day as the couple, but police said there was no link to the murders. 

However, none of the theories surrounding the so-called Alps Murders have stuck, meaning there have been no criminal indictments. 

How did events on the day of the 2012 gun massacre of a British family and French cyclist in the Alps unfold?

During the morning of September 5, 2012, Iqbal, her mother Suhaila and her daughters, Zainab and Zeena, were seen picking apples together.  

Around 1pm the family left the campsite and drove towards the village of Chevaline. 

After 3:45pm an RAF veteran overtook another cyclist on a heavily forested road south of Chevaline in the French Alps. 

Moments later he pulled into a car park and found Mr Mollier lying dead beside the family’s bullet-ridden BMW, which still has its engine running and was in reverse.

He spotted injured Zainab walking towards him before collapsing. He put her in the recovery position and called for help. 

The cyclist saw the dead bodies of Saad al-Hilli, his wife Iqbal and his mother in law Suhaila, inside the car, which was locked. 

Each of them had been shot twice in the head while Mr Mollier was shot seven times. 

Around 4:20pm police arrived but did not disturb the crime scene because forensic experts from Paris were on their way. More than two dozen spent bullet casings were later found near the vehicle.

Zainab was taken to hospital in Grenoble while her sister Zeena remained hidden, cowering under her mother’s legs in the rear footwell for eight hours before she was discovered. 

Around 11pm a family who had been camping next to the al-Hilli’s told police the couple had two children leading to a rescue mission involving helicopters and search dogs to find Zeena. 

A helicopter fitted with thermal imaging flew over the BMW but failed to detect Zeena. 

Around midnight on September 6, the police eventually opened the vehicle’s doors and discovered the four-year-old cowering under her death mother’s legs.